1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an optical circuit-type reformulated fuel detecting sensor, and more particularly, to an optical circuit-type reformulated fuel detecting sensor device and a method for manufacturing a sensor element thereof capable of determining reformulated gasoline used as fuel of a vehicle using optical characteristics of an optical signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, reformulated fuel (reformulated gasoline) has been deceived and sold as normal fuel in the market, which has been emerged as a serious social problem. In 2013, Korean petroleum quality and distribution authority has revealed that the amount of the tax evasion of the reformulated fuel is estimated to be one trillion won or more. The reformulated gasoline indicates a product produced similarly to gasoline so as to be sold as gasoline for a vehicle in order to gain an undue profit corresponding to a cost difference between the reformulated gasoline and fuel for a vehicle (normal fuel). Under the current Petroleum Business Law, in fuel of a vehicle depending on a rule of Section 1 of Article 2 of the Automobile Management Law and a machine and a vehicle depending on rules of each section of Article 2 of Enforcement Decree of the same law (using gasoline as fuel), a product produced by a method of mixing another petroleum product or petrochemicals with gasoline for a vehicle (including mixing between different kinds or grades of petroleum products), a method of mixing another petrochemicals with petrochemicals, or the like, has been defined as the reformulated gasoline. (Article 26 of the Petroleum Business Law and Article 30 of Enforcement Decree of the same law)
Reformulated gasoline that has been recently distributed has been produced by mixing an aromatic compound including toluene and an alcohol based petrochemical product such as methanol to a solvent (industrial gasoline) in an appropriate ratio, and the reformulated gasoline mixed with normal gasoline in a predetermined ratio has been distributed.
As a method for detecting reformulated fuel, a method for detecting reformulated fuel based on an ingredient analysis using a device such as a gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) or a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) is used.
However, the method for detecting reformulated fuel based on an ingredient analysis has a limitation in performing search in real time in view of effectiveness such as a device using cost, a time, accessibility, and the like.
In addition, a method for measuring waveform deduction of a specific material among chemical materials using a principle such as infrared spectroscopy according to the related art has been developed, and research into a method for determining reformulated fuel using one or more colored dyes of which a color is changed in response to a gasoline component has been continuously conducted.
As the related art for this, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1170932 (Adulterated Gasoline Detecting Method Using Polymer Sensor Fibers Including Polydiacetylene, and Device Including the Polymer Sensor Fibers) has disclosed a technology of easily determining reformulated gasoline with the naked eyes using polymer fibers selectively reacting to toluene, which is a specific component added for manufacturing the reformulated gasoline.
In addition, Korean Utility Model Publication No. 20-0445853 (Detector of Fuel Oil) has disclosed a technology of determining reformulated fuel by a portable reformulated fuel detecting device including an infrared light source, a cell holder, a detecting part, an operating part, and a display part by using optical characteristics (intrinsic absorption ratio of a specific waveform) of components such as toluene, thinner, bio-diesel, and the like, added to the reformulated fuel.
In the recent technology of determining reformulated fuel as described above, a method of picking target fuel to be measured and detecting an aromatic compound such as toluene, or the like, included in the reformulated fuel has been conducted.
Gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbons having about 6 to 10 carbons. In molecular structures of materials configuring crude oil, the number of hydrocarbons having a straight chain shape is many, such that a problem such as knocking or easy ignition occurs. Therefore, oil refining companies add cyclic benzene or toluene to crude oil to somewhat increase an octane number, thereby allowing the crude oil to which the cyclic benzene or toluene is added to be used in a vehicle engine.
Therefore, even though content component ratios are different from each other per oil refining company, the aromatic compound such as toluene, or the like, is present even in valid gasoline. Therefore, there is a limitation in accurately determining whether or not gasoline is the reformulated gasoline only with qualitative determination depending on whether or not a toluene component is present.
In addition, in a scheme of collecting reformulated fuel samples that frequently appear and studying the reformulated fuel samples in a laboratory, it is difficult to perform a real-time analysis, a large cost is required, and a device has a large volume, such that it is difficult to install the device in the field and perform real-time determination.
Therefore, a reformulated fuel detecting device that is capable of quantitatively contrasting characteristics of the reformulated gasoline with each other in real time, is simply carried, and is cheap has been demanded.
The present invention relates to an optical circuit-type reformulated fuel detecting sensor device and method using an optical circuit. The background technology for an optical branching component has been disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-0015933.